, 1887-08-16
HISTORY OF THE flag.
Bible Mention of Banners and EnsiEns-
The Roman Eagls-The Crusades.

Bible Mention of Banners and EnsiEns-
The Roman Eagle-The Crusades.
In the Bible the mention of banners,
standards and ensigns is frequent. In the
second chapter of Numbers and the sec
ond verse: Every man of the children
of Israel shall pitch by his own standard
with the ensign of their fathers house,
And in the t~hirty-fourth verse: so they
pitched by their standards, and 50 they
set forward, every one after their fam
lilies, according to the house of their
fathers" And again, when the Israel
ties are marching from Sinai to Paran:
''In the first place went the standard of
the camp Of the children of Judah, ac-
cording to their armies" There are other
numerous instances, too numerous to
quote, from Isaiah, Jeremiah and the
Canticles.
Among the Egyptians the several COM
pInies carried standards, models of sa-
cred animals and emblenl5, aud the kings
narne figured in some fashion on a board;
u.id the Assyrians had much the same,
of which there are two noticed by Sir
Henry Layard, one of a man drawing a
bow and the other of two bulls running
in opposite directions, supposed to be the
cnblems of war and peace attached to
lDurius' chariot. The Persians had an
e...l. fixed on a lance and a brazen sun
"a the generals tent. on which the first
rays Of the sun striking gave the signal
fur the march. The Greeks in the earlier
times bore armor on a spear, and in
later each city had its sacred emblem:
for Athens, the owl and the olive; for
Cprinth, the pegasus, and for Thebes, the
AFlN4nN in mnnnRrNr Of (EIfH,a. ODD
later still, as on the sea a red flag dis
played is said to have been the flag of
battle, so on shore the hosting Of q
purple dress on a spear wa the signal to
the Hellenes to advance and fight. 1t is
very easy to be tiresome with a very little
learning, and so we will leave Greece and
the barbarians, will omit mention of the
arms of the seven against Thebes-to be
found duly set u in the play-will
quote none of the references from Virgil,
m come direct to the Romans and their
sigma militaria.
The manipulus in the early days of the
republic carried hay on a pole, like a
Breton peasant; then devices very various,
among them the contorted serpent, the
special ensign of the foreign auxiliaries.
But il was not till after the time of Marius
they displayed the eagle that in the great
da5s of Rome was ever the sign of the
legion. II was that the soldiers swor by;
il was that when, as a last desperate re-
source, il was thrown into the ranks of
the enemy, that they would follow and
rescue or die.
We are told that 100 years after Caesars
first attack on us, Aviragus, brother of
Guidcrus, king of South Britain, bore
azure a cross pattee, fetched in the foot;
and We know that ono the Romans were
withdrawn and the Saxons held rule,
each kingdom of the h~eptarchy was dis
tru-uiShed by a device, of which the white
horse of Kent, borne by Hengist and
Horsa on their shields, is a familiar ex-
ample. Then we have Egbert, with a
cross patOnCe-that is, n cross fleurie, ex-
panded-to which his great grandson add
ed four martlets Ia beaBless and footless
bird of heraldry), and Edward the Con-
fessor a fifth; and that is the flag, that
and the flag of st. Edmund-blue, with
three gold crowns-under which the
early English kings fought.
Now, if at this time we glance abroad,
it is certain we see Clovis l, king of the
Franks, take the blue cape of st. Martin
and hoist it as the royal banner; and for
1872 years the royal banner it remains,
till $50, when the oriflamme, a red flag
with green fringe, sacred to the Abbey of
st. Denis, was pulled up over it. The
heurs-de-lys, older as an emblem than the
Trinity they are supposed to represent,
were not peculiarly French or royal till
the Twelfth century.
To the Crusades it is clear that we must
look for the first real dignity of the flag,
Cou de Lions crusade in particular, for
he gave rise to more armorial bearings
than awe sprung from any other single
cause whatever, not ever excepting the
battle of Crecy. And not only are there
more families bearing arms from merit
achieved then. or assumed arms then,
but families innumerable, on engaging in
the war, changed their devices for others
more suited to the solemnity of the oc-
casion.
Now let us, having got so far, take the
present royal standard, or, more cor
rectly, banner, first hoisted on the tower
January /, 1901, and consider how and
of what it is composed. To describe it
heraldically, it is Quarterly: first and
fourth, gules, three lions PEASANT gar
dant, in pale, or, for England; second,
or, a lion rampant, gules, within a
double Treasure, tiory, counterfiory of the
last, for Scotland; third, azure, a harp,
or, stringed argent, for Ireland" The
flag has been produced, we are told, in
considerable contempt of heraldic rules,
but assuredly, for all that, it excites no
less obedience, enthusiasm AMI respect
Cornhill Magazine.